Tag Archives: Video Game Review

Rafa Nadal Tennis Review

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This is one of those games I had never heard of until I saw it in store. I always tend to like tennis games so this felt like a safe pick but unfortunately I couldn’t have been more wrong. It takes the stylus to the absolute extreme which really doesn’t work well for the sport. You need to have easy movement options to really make this worth it and unfortunately that is all gone. It’s easily the weakest tennis game that I’ve played and probably the weakest overall sports title.

The game has a training mode, exhibitions, and then the main mode is the career. You start out as the 100th ranked player and have to try and win a lot of games so that you can be the best in the world. There is no kind of story or anything like that so this is really just about excelling and doing your absolute best at every turn. You can unlock different shits and rackets but yeah there’s not a whole lot of replay value here either. Thing is, that’s not necessarily a big deal for a sports title. You’re playing it for the gameplay and everything else is meant to enhance that.

Well, that’s where the stylus comes in. You have to tap different points on the screen in order for your player to move there. It means you can’t change directions very easily because that’s a lot of tapping and the balls are coming in fast. Then you also have to swipe your stylus in order to make the shot and that’s also how you aim the serve. A whole lot to consider there and the game is very sensitive so you will be hitting the ball out a lot as well. You’re basically having to calculate a whole lot of things all at once which isn’t super fun. Tennis should be a game that you play on instinct.

I should be able to be dashing back and forth landing hits and countering blows without having to worry about the exact inch I swiped the stylus. That’s just not a good look at all. It took me a while to even get a good serve and while the A.I. isn’t particularly good, their movements are very natural so it’s even hard to score on them. That’s not even getting into lobs and slices. There are just too many details here.

Meanwhile I suppose the graphics aren’t bad. It’s fairly standard DS stuff. Nothing particularly high grade but I wasn’t really expecting that in the first place. It’s just enough to get the job done and that’s really it. So it doesn’t lose any points there. The soundtrack is generic but that’s true even for AAA sport titles so it’s not unexpected. With good gameplay, the title would easily have gotten past all of that.

I generally don’t care for gimmicks much and titles like this are a good reason as to why that is. There are many games with good gimmicks of course but it is just something that is really easy to mess up. If the game went with the “generic” option of normal controls then it would have been many times better. Sometimes the generic controls are the way to go and they are the standard because they have worked for many years. Why change something that is already working really well on its own right? Don’t fix what isn’t broken and I definitely don’t miss that part about the DS. The stylus was almost as bad as the Wii’s motion controls. Almost.

At least the game is very cheap. I only spent $5 on it which is less than the going price of a Subway sandwich. So even though the game wasn’t particularly good and I don’t expect that I will ever be playing it again, it doesn’t really feel like a waste. It’s pretty rare for me to play a game that I would consider to be straight up “Bad” after all and that helps me to really appreciate the good titles out there.

Overall, This is not a particularly good game. I have my doubts on if the devs really put a lot of time into this one. It feels like a very rushed product where the core design doesn’t even make sense for the kind of game that they were trying to make. It’s all a big mismatch and tennis is something that should be absolutely difficult to mess up. I think that’s even the worst part when you really think about it. This should have all been really easy and straight forward, instead it wasn’t. I would advise you to stay far away from this game. It really doesn’t have anything to offer you.

Overall 3/10

Tetris DX Review

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Tetris is one of those games that is known to be virtually timeless. It continues to get more and more alternate versions but people always love pulling up the original. The reason is because good gameplay is good gameplay. As long as that part ages well then the rest of the game will quickly follow suit. For the most part you can see how it surpasses the legacy of the original although I do miss the hand drawn illustrations.

There are a few different modes here that you will notice right away. You have the classic mode here as well as survival mode and a number of others like marathon mode. They’re all pretty similar but of course there are key differences in each of them. It’ll take you a while to go through them all though so you’ll need some time here. I made sure to go through each of the modes to see how they played. Generally I’d say my favorite is classic but what I liked about some of the other modes is that they had endings.

For example, in one mode you have to see how quickly you can complete 30 lines within Tetris. The faster you do it, the higher your score is. It gives you something to try and surpass. Technically speaking the main mode had an ending point as well but very few people have ever managed to get there. I remember a kid made the news for accomplishing this because it was such a massive feat. It’s not something that just anyone could do. I could probably play the game for decades and not accomplish this feat which is really saying something.

The graphics are good here. It’s not like Tetris is the kind of game that shows off with a bunch of graphics or anything like that but the ones that are there are quite solid. The soundtrack is more on the forgettable side though. They have 3 different tracks you can choose from and they’re not bad. Just nothing to write home about, I would say they feel closer to public domain music than anything. Imagine hearing a lot of awesome beats while playing instead? Getting in Mario, F-Zero, Pokemon, and any other kind of music would be cool.

I imagine that the top level talents in Tetris may not want to hear any of that since it’ll distract from the gameplay but as a casual player, I’d certainly be down to hear some good tracs like that. It’ll just make the whole game pop more if you ask me. Naturally the replay value here is basically infinite as you can keep on playing more and more with every round being lightly different. Ultimately you just need to get the patterns down and then you can really operate on a high level but of course that is easier said than done. I feel pretty familiar with some of the shape combos but certainly not all of them.

Also after playing a few different Tetris titles, it can definitely be hard knowing the columns as well. Occasionally I would put a piece down in the wrong column by mistake so that’s something you’ll need to get used to. The spacing and such can look a bit different across all of the games even though the gameplay itself is really solid. This is just on the player at the end of the day.

There’s not a whole lot to really say about the game beyond this though. Tetris is a pretty easy to understand game after all and it’s not as if there are a whole lot of modes or variance. So you’ll know right away if you are going to like it or not. I’m still waiting for somebody to make a really story focused version of Tetris. That could really sell gangbusters because it really hasn’t been done yet. The story would draw in the more casual players like me who would otherwise not go our of their way to purchase the game. More players = more revenue. The games can thank me later!

Overall, Tetris DX is definitely a solid game. It’s a fun time even if you may not be here for long. It won’t quite top some of the other classics like Tetris 99 which has done a real good job of revolutionizing the genre. That one really took the series to new heights. The graphics here have held up well though and so it is definitely pleasant to play through. It’s free with the Nintendo Switch Online so I would definitely recommend checking it out. The more rounds of Tetris that you have played across different versions, the more you can really say that you are a Tetris pro.

Overall 6/10

Light Crusader Review

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I’m venturing further into the Genesis library and Light Crusader was the next one on the list. It’s a pretty fun game and one that feels retro while still getting some unique mechanics in. It’s a game that was well made for its time and I had a good time in the present. It is fairly short so you’ll need to keep that in mind but it does a better job of being a big dungeon/maze than most of the newer ones that show up.

The game starts with a lot of people being kidnapped by a cult and so the main character heads off to save them. Underneath the castle is a 7 floor dungeon where these people are being kept. His mission, should he choose to accept it is to rescue them all and destroy all of the villains and monsters down there. The hero is equipped with a sword and has basic mastery over all elements. With these abilities at the ready he can handle these guys.

The gameplay style is mainly that of an overhead exploration game. The idea is to get to each set of staircases to reach the next floor. On the way there you will need to defeat the boss of the floor and solve a lot of puzzles to get there. The puzzles range from using boulders to fall into the right holes or trying to jump and hit different switches in order. They range from being extremely easy to sometimes being completely unknown. Some of these puzzles just felt like good ole fashioned button mashing to me. One of them for example was to hit 4 numbers in a certain sequence and I didn’t come across any hints in the game. So I just got cracking on trying every combo out until it worked.

If there were too many puzzles like that then it would have definitely hurt the game but fortunately that wasn’t the main focus. They would appear from time to time in the background but most of the game was about running and defeating enemies which is more up my speed. I also enjoyed the platforming puzzles because those tend to be run fair and square You can absolutely solve those puzzles just by deductive reasoning and without using any gimmicks or relying on hints. Those are the best kinds of puzzles I’d say. Since those represented the majority of puzzles in this game, I was all set.

Additionally this game has one of the better maps that I’ve seen. It was very detailed and easy to comprehend at a glance. I didn’t have to be wondering if I was looking at the screen right or anything like that. No, this was a map that would let me get to the end. The game’s length is fairly short as it’s only a few hours long. That said, it’s better to be short than to have had some forced length at the end. With this amount it felt like the game was running at full speed the whole time and never had to pause or try to buy some time.

We even got to squeeze in a classic boss rush as you have to save 8 wizards near the end and fight all of the old bosses there. That was pretty fun. Each boss has a very different gameplay style to them so there aren’t any clones here. Additionally, the final boss has a pretty cool design. It makes for a very impactful climax with a lot of color and depth to him.

The only area where the game is a bit weak is with the hitboxes. For most of the game they don’t even make much sense. There will be times where you know that you hit the enemy but nothing happens and other times when your blow seems to fall short but you land the move. I don’t think it was lag or anything like that but instead it just felt like for some reason the hit boxes were added to odd areas. Eventually you just get used to the difference and adjust accordingly but for a while there it definitely ends up feeling weird.

The soundtrack is solid here. No tunes that I will remember by the end of the week but they still work well enough with what the game is going for. Likewise the graphics are pretty good. Perhaps not out of this world good but they are clear and it is always obvious what is happening on screen. The art style is appealing too so I really have no issues there.

Overall, Light Crusader is a pretty good game. I definitely had a solid amount of fun with it and this would be a good template for how you should do a platforming puzzle game. It’s a genre that would definitely be difficult for most titles to pull off after all. It takes a whole lot of engineering and quality of life features but this game was clearly up to the task. There are even different collectibles and rooms that I didn’t get to explore so there’s even a bit of replay value here. If you have the Switch Online then you should definitely check it out. The experience is a very memorable one and while you might be annoyed at the short length if you had paid for it, that’s the perks of getting it through the Switch Online. If they ever wanted to bring this franchise back I would say there is a lot of potential there.

Overall 7/10

Tetris (NES) Review

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It’s time for some more Tetris adventures! I played the Game Boy port of this one a while back but now I have the home console experience. It is one of those games that everybody knows about at this point but it still manages to be quite fun. After all, the core fundamentals of the game are sound and when that’s the case you can always rest assured that the end product will be good. At this point there are other Tetris titles that have surpassed this one but that doesn’t take away from its own ability.

The game has two main modes. You have the endless Tetris challenge where you try to get a high score and then you have the other one where you race to complete a certain amount of lines as fast as you can. Both of them have their fun points to be sure and when you get a new high score you will get a little animation that is pretty fun. This one also doesn’t bring in the cheesy factor of having you start off with a high score when you enter the higher speed arenas. Instead no matter what mode you begin with, you end up with 0 points. It’s definitely a whole lot fairer to the player. Ultimately my best run here was around 32,000. A far cry from other players who would deal in the hundreds of thousands. Well, what can I say..I’m more of a casual player myself.

In general the best speed I can handle tends to be around 6 out of the 9 possible options. When you get past that, the objects fall down faster than I can match them all together. Ultimately I end up going down while on the slower speeds I can really keep it up forever. That said, the game never lets you stay on a speed for very long. If you pick a slow speed, the game will automatically start leveling you up as you continue to make more lines get completed. As a result it’s almost like an online match making setup in a fighting game. It all balances well.

The game surprised me with the option to pick out of 3 different music tracks while playing the game. Music makes a lot of sense for a puzzle game like this but at the same time I wasn’t really expecting it. The tracks are fairly catchy too which goes a long way. it makes the game stand out and also gives it more replay value. I wouldn’t want to be playing in silence after all. Having a second mode for taking out lines is also a lot of fun because the main mode can be very time consuming with how long it takes to lose. This other mode is clearly better equipped for fast founds of knocking out as many matches as possible. It’s way more fast paced as a result and works out well.

In terms of any gameplay tips, I suppose I would say to always use the long 4 piece object for the sides. Mix and match the others well to take care of the center and that way you can usually knock groups of 3-4 rows out when needed. I’m assuming it helps with the score multiplier since that’s the case in other Tetris games but additionally it also makes it easier on you to keep track of the board. By knowing what you will be doing with each piece ahead of time, you don’t have to waste as much time thinking while you’re actually on the field.

Overall, Tetris is a fun game as always. It may not have anything on the newer ones like Tetris 99 but it’s a game you should check out as long as you have the Switch Online. There is basically no downside to downloading it after all so why would you not do this right? Just something to think about at the very least. I’ll be playing another Tetris game soon so we’ll see how that one stacks up. Due to how straight forward the game is, there’s not a whole lot to talk about here. You will either like the game or not and it only takes seconds to tell if it’s your kind of game. Now if it had a true story mode then that would be another matter but we’ll have to wait a little longer for that one.

Overall 6/10

ToeJam & Earl in Panic on Funkotron Review

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Toejam has returned for another big adventure. This one’s definitely pretty different with how it plays out as a 2D platformer this time. It’s okay in most areas but does lag behind the average platformer. It could use more of a plot and also more straight forward levels. This = is one of those games that is all about finding a ton of collectibles in a way in order to complete the game. That’s not exactly my cup of tea as you may know.

The basic plot involves a lot of craziness but the important thing to know if that you must capture all of the humans who have been released into the wild across 17 levels. Each level varies in term of how many humans are captured and fortunately you have a compass that lets you know where the next one is at all times. When the compass turns green then you have caught all of the humans in the level and can proceed. You must capture all humans before you can get to the next level so in that way the game really makes sure that you have done a thorough job. It often involves going through quite a few different paths to locate them all.

You throw bottles as your main attack but you have two super moves. One of them lets you run around like crazy throwing bottles everywhere while the other one has you summon a washing machine of sorts that absorbs all nearby enemies. They’re both pretty handy so you should save them for when you really need them. Some of the humans are rather powerful after all so you want a good move in your back pocket after all. Sometimes you are up against a whole pack of dogs and they make good use of their sheer numbers. A single hit takes quite a bit of your health away. Then you have the photograph pros who really don’t play around. Their pictures stun you for a few seconds while also dealing a lot of damage. Underestimate them at your own peril.

The toughest enemy has to be the guy on a flying carpet though. It takes a lot of hits to defeat him and since he is constantly flying away it is difficult to go on the offensive. A few sucker hits is enough to really take the fight out of you and that is the whole plan in a nutshell. There are burgers and such that you can grab to replenish your health but you have to be careful checking the trees because they also contain items that will make you lose health like bowling balls. Naturally those are infinite while the health items are one time use only.

You can use ESP to see through objects and know which place are safe to check but as you can probably guess these run on an energy meter. Once you’ve used them up it’ll generally be a while before you have enough energy to do it again. You can teleport infinitely though which is really handy. Not just handy, it is absolutely necessary in order to beat some of the humans so you need to keep that in mind. I kept forgetting that I even had this ability for most of the game.

As far as the graphics go, I would say those are pretty good. The character models are fun and the levels definitely keep that odd look you would expect from the series. Everything always appears to be a bit off which is of course the entire point. This has always been a crazy universe and the game keeps that same energy. The soundtrack is more on the boring side though, I’d like to see them get more creative with it than what we have seen so far. I know there is a whole lot of energy there that they can channel into some really good beats.

There’s not much in the way of replay value since you have to round up all of the humans anyway. The game’s length is pretty decent though because like I said it takes a while to get all of those humans. They keep running around trying to buy time after all. All you really need to do in order to make the game better would be to make the platforming a bit more fun. I dare say that the bottle throwing should be removed in favor of a more traditional punch or jump. It would feel a lot more satisfying when defeating the humans and would also help the platforming. Having to hold the down button while jumping to go higher also doesn’t feel very intuitive. It works well enough but it just feels so random in the end. It’s definitely there just to mess with the average player.

I’d say again, it’s not a bad game but it’s not a particularly good one either. It could have been a lot more interesting and as it stands it will end up forgotten. If not for the Switch Online I would bet that most people haven’t even heard of it before. That’s just how obscure this title is. The series definitely needs some kind of a big modern AAA remake that can turn the franchise around. As it is, this one just isn’t performing well enough to break out on its own.

Overall, Toejam has its moments but having to capture all of the humans can be more on the annoying side. The 17 levels feel quite long by the time you are done with the game and you have to imagine that they could have made the levels a lot more compressed and fun. Give me 34 shorter levels instead of the 17 really long ones. If you have the Switch Online then you should check this one out but it’s probably not a game that I would have searched for otherwise. It’s just not really hitting the heart of what it means to be a platformer. That didn’t happen.

Overall 5/10

Banjo-Tooie review

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Banjo-Tooie is one of those games that gets worse the longer you play it. Initially it isn’t so bad but as the worlds go on and the mechanics get more and more annoying, you really feel it. It’s a game that should only be around 12 hours long and yet it ends up getting stretched to over 30 hours. The game just keeps on going on and on and on. Even after you unlock the initial ending, then there is a true ending after that. The main goal of a game is to be fun but the problem is that this one stops being fun early on. It lacks every possible quality of life feature and that’s just a shame.

The game starts off with a few years passing since the first one. Gruntilda is back and she is definitely aiming to take her revenge on Banjo. It starts out well for her as she murders one of our friends. We have to take her down now and avenge him but to do that we will need to collect all of the Jiggies and stop a bunch of powerful monsters. This may sound like a tough mission but it’s nothing that Banjo hasn’t done before. He is a trained hero after all.

Okay so the basic gameplay style here is that of a 3D platformer. You run, jump, and fight your way through the levels to grab some Jiggies. There are 10 of them per level which can be gained by completing different tasks and sub missions within the world. You need 70 out of the 90 in order to get the true ending here. As you complete the worlds you will learn more and more abilities that let you get more Jiggies. So in that case you could almost call this a vania type of game. There is a lot of backtracking that you have to do over and over again.

The worlds are all connected by the hub world but another way to phrase that is you have to constantly be going to the hub world to then go back to the actual level. There is no instant travel or anything like that. There are shortcuts and warp points but none that will ever get you to where you want to go directly. Trust me when I say that is a very annoying thing. With a huge game like this that is absolutely a must.

Additionally the actual walking speed of Banjo is incredibly slow. You should run with Kazooie as much as possible but the more the game goes on, the more times you have to completely use Banjo to get the jiggy which means that running is not an option. Just travelling will take you a very long time. The game also has a gimmick where every world has you control Mumbo at different points and also transform into various objects. You have to go to their huts to do this and then to transform back you have to run all the way there. Often times they have to take different routes around the level which means even more places to explore.

The worst one is definitely the dinosaur world which is absolutely massive. In addition to the usual transformations your dinosaur mode has two forms. You guessed it…you have to run back to Mumbo’s each time to set this up and then go back to the magic tent. Nothing is made to be easy here and that is a massive problem. It’s not something you can just handwave either. Not when it takes hours upon hours to get past this.

The annoying part is that at first it’s actually rather fun. It’s enjoyable to first enter a world and start to check out each of the passageways and find the Jiggy that you are looking for. That is the heart of this genre after all. Where it all goes horribly wrong is when you have to keep on coming back. At the very least they should have a limit like you have to only revisit world 1 once, or something like that. It’s fine to gradually unlock new powers but you shouldn’t spread them out so completely. Every time you have to go back to the same worlds again is more time that is just wasted. It wasn’t planned out very well at all if you ask me.

The technical aspects of the game are surprisingly good though. The graphics are quite sharp with all of the character models being good and the stage deigns are on point. They hold up really well to the current day. Then there are quite a few catchy tunes to listen to in the game as well. At least that helps you to ignore how long you’ve been playing the game. It’s not enough to block the negatives to be honest but having a bad soundtrack would have made it all way worse that’s for sure.

Throw in some maps, basic descriptions of what’s missing and an effective quick travel. Adding those 3 things would do a whole lot of good for the game. Keep in mind that it took this long even with all of the rewinding and such to avoid going down random paths that lead nowhere. If not for that then this would be even worse. That’s a rather terrifying prospect because some Jiggies require an insane amount of platforming while others are very unrelenting with the damage count. A single death will send you wayyyyyyy back which is definitely something to consider. When I say there are no quality of life considerations here I really do mean it. They were all ditched long ago which is a real shame. his may be the most realistic treasure hunting game in the sense that it is so hard and you are given no direction but that’s no a good thing. The game manages to squander some really entertaining writing and a good story which is an absolutely tragic feat.

Overall, Banjo definitely fell down pretty hard here. I wasn’t the biggest fan of the first by any means but it is worlds better than this one. Whenever you have a sequel that is worse than the first one then you’ve got a big problem. That kind of thing just should not be happening. The core concepts are here that could make this a good series but this game did not reach its potential. I’d definitely advise you to stay far away from this one. It’s just not worth the playthrough and makes for a very exhausting game.

Overall 3/10

Wolf of the Battlefield: MERCS Review

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This is definitely one of the more random games that I’ve gotten to play. I can tell you that I’ve definitely never even heard of this game before. It was a pretty fun one but definitely suffers from some arcade age. There’s one boss in particular that you have to play frame perfect or you get crushed. Even with rewind and perfectly dodging every hit it was super difficult to pull off the win.

You play as a GI Joe type of hero who needs to take down a whole army of opposing fighters and giant mech suits. You can bet that this is no easy task but he is up for it. You go through 8 levels of auto scrolling where more and more enemies keep showing up. When the auto scrolling stops, you get to keep on going and take your chances with the enemy gunfire or stay put and whittle them down first. Generally I found that it was best to keep on moving but of course that can also be super risky so you need to keep that in mind. The biggest factor to keep in mind though is the weapons that you pick up. These will change your experience quite a lot. When you pick up a gun, you drop your old one and can’t pick it back up so keep that in mind.

In my opinion the best weapon is the flame thrower and it’s not particularly close. A good blast from that weapon takes out most opponents and you can just hold down the attack button to keep it shooting forever. The catch is that it won’t have the same punch as some of the stronger weapons but honestly it’s a pretty decent trade off for me. Once I picked this one up I made sure not to pick any other weapons up. There was one boss that was nearly impossible to defeat with this weapon but in every other level it really served me well.

The game is also fairly generous with all of the health items that are dropped by enemies or found in boxes. More so than the average game in this genre so I definitely appreciated that. It helped prevent the game from getting too difficult to get through. It’s still very difficult obviously but it never feels quite impossible the way some of the old arcade shooters would. There are some shooters like that where you just feel like they were made to take all of your quarters.

The graphics have aged really well and I’d say that it is due to the art style. It’s very colorful and helps complement the sprites well. The action also works really well although there isn’t much of a soundtrack. You can’t win them all I suppose. In terms of replay value, there technically isn’t one since there are no collectibles or bonus levels to play through. I guess you could try to beat the game quicker or with less deaths as some self imposed challenges though. That would be a hard sell unless you really loved the game though. Otherwise this is clearly made as the kind of game that you play through all the way once and then call it a day.

Nothing wrong with that kind of game of course, that’s how a lot of them were back in the day. It’s definitely worth playing through this title on the Switch Online. The fact that they put a good amount of effort into this one instead of letting it become generic shooter 3000 was also a really good touch. Even with that we’ll see how long I remember this one though. In my defense, there really are a whole lot of army games with no real end in sight. It’s the kind of game that people just enjoy a whole lot so why wouldn’t they continue them right? One of these games in 3D without the first person camera work would really be awesome! Hopefully that ends up being the case at some point.

Overall, MERCS is a pretty fun game. I dare say that a lot of the enjoyment is because I am playing it through the Switch Online though. Without that I would probably be in a really tricky spot. I’d give it a few whirls but in general when you are sent back to the beginning of a game, I’m not too keen to keep on trying. You just lose too much progress even if you are having fun. At minimum, all games need to allow you to replay from the latest level when you have a game over. That is the way to go.

Overall 7/10

Vectorman Review

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Vectorman is definitely nostalgic because I played through it many years ago. I don’t remember if I beat the whole game and if I had to guess, I probably didn’t. It’s a very difficult title which helps to make up for its length. The concept for the game is really sound and I enjoy the gameplay. It really is like an alternate Mega Man of sorts and it’s too bad that this one didn’t spawn a lot of sequels and turn into a complete franchise or anything like that.

The general plot is that Vectorman is the only one to resist mind control and so it’s up to him to destroy all of the enemies. This may sound like a daunting task but Vectorman isn’t the kind of villain to go down so easily. He has his blasters and only gets stronger as the game goes on. The basic gameplay style is that of a 2D shooter. Your gun can spam bullets and along the way you can get temporary power ups that makes you gun even stronger. On the flip side, Vectorman is very flimsy and a few hits will put him out of commission for good.

Virtually all of the enemies have super armor which also makes them very difficult to defeat. You have to be extremely careful or you will end up soaking up a bunch of damage in the blink of an eye. Once that happens then you are really doomed. You always want to keep at least two health points on hand because you can lose 2 in back to back hits before you can really react. You don’t have many invincibility frames here.

There are a number of bosses in the game and they are all crafted well. The way you defeat each of them is unique so there are no re-used bosses or anything like that. Each one is a unique experience all the way through. The graphics are also really good. All of the worlds really stand out and are very colorful. I like the enemy designs and the energy blasts look good. It’s a very well balanced title all the way.

Then you have the soundtrack which is a very solid Sci-fi blend. It sounds like Mega Man but even more modern for its time. The soundtrack ages extremely well and works with the gameplay. The final boss is also really intense so the game gets to end with a real bang. It certainly succeeds on the technical aspects.

When it comes to the gameplay, my main tip would be to make sure and get every single health point. You will need them for the bosses which are all designed to absolutely obliterate you. They are not balanced in any way so don’t get that twisted. These guys are as overpowered as they get and will give you no quarter. You will be on the defensive the whole time and you can expect to die a whole lot. It has a case for being even harder than Mega Man to be honest but the Wily runs do tend to be crazy so that may be overdoing it just a tad.

This is another series that could really use a modern remake. Vectorman would be an absolutely stellar main character and he already has the deign for it. You’d probably need to focus on the supporting cast next since right now there isn’t much of one but that wouldn’t be too hard to do. You can also give him more attacks but perhaps that would make it feel too much like a Mega Man ripoff. That can be avoided for now but with how he’s made of a lot of balls for joints, using some kind of shape manipulation could be within reason.

Naturally I would also add more of a story. It certainly can’t hurt right? So you can have that at the ready as well and you’ve got all the makings of a fun title. That’s probably the most fun thing about playing all of these old games which is that you can sit down and think about the concepts outside of the old limitations of the ancient systems. Something like Vectorman is a perfect example of this.

Overall, Vectorman is a pretty good game. It holds up really well both in terms of gameplay and graphics. It’s the kind of game you can pop in at any time because of how extremely simple it is. It’s ultra difficult but very simple to understand. I would definitely appreciate more of a plot but for now I will be satisfied with just having some opening text at least. It’s more than some other games bother to deliver after all. If you haven’t played or even heard of the game before then you should change that right away. Don’t let your expectations get too crazy here but you can definitely be assured that you will have a positive experience. In the end that is the most important thing after all.

Overall 7/10

Donkey Kong Land III Review

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It’s time to end the trilogy. The Donkey Kong Land games have sure lasted a while and you have to give them major props for that. That being said, this one really doesn’t do much different from the others. Sure, it brings in new levels and good ole King K Rool to shake things up…actually he’s always been the villain. So you get the idea here. If you like platformers then you should have a good time with this.

This time we have 3 different characters to play as which is definitely fun. You basically get to switch places every time you get hit. You can only hang on to one extra life point at a time so the third character is technically never on the roster. No matter though, you will get hit plenty of times as you play through the game so I don’t see this being a really big issue. It is always fun to play as Dixie though since she still has the long glide. You can really cheese some levels with her if you can avoid getting hit for a while.

One thing you will notice very quickly though is that it’s very hard to keep track of what level you’re on. This is probably a casualty of the no color issue for the Game Boy. When you complete a level, there is no visual indicator that it is cleared. Then you have to go up, right, left, or sometimes down depending on the world and this means it ends up being very risky on if you may end up playing an old level by mistake. That happened to me twice and I had to back out. It’s definitely something I’ve never seen in the genre before so it could desperately use a quality of life enhancement there.

Meanwhile while the graphics were likely good originally, hey don’t look great here. It’s all very faded out and the sprites are the only saving grace here. The soundtrack is good though, I do tend to enjoy the DK tunes. Nintendo did a good job of giving them a lot of personality rather than it sound like generic jungle environments which would have been very uninspired. So I was quite content there.

As far as the length goes, I’d say it is a fair amount of content to get through. It may feel short compared to a modern game, but playing through a lot of these Game Boy titles you see how short they can be. The most important thing is that the game doesn’t only have one world or anything like that. There are also some bonus levels that you can optionally play which increases the replay value as well.

The game can be rather difficult so you need to tread through the stage carefully. Without the rewind feature at the ready the enemies would certainly be very overpowering. You just wouldn’t be able to get through them all so easily. I could run a lot but that was a privilege of the Nintendo Switch Online. You could probably add some hours to my playtime otherwise. You also still have the animals here which is good for spreading the gameplay out. There are quite a few ways to play the game and that was a nice bit of extra work by the devs.

You’d expect that it definitely costs more time and money to set up more than one playing style. The DK games have been consistent in this though so that’s a good thing. There isn’t a whole lot to say about the game though because it’s a very straight forward title and also because not much has changed from the first two. I suppose in that way it’s a sequel that should make the players feel very comfortable. It’s all things that they have seen before and so they can hit the ground running rather than worrying about learning the style or anything like that.

Naturally if we get a Land 4 one day I really hope it has more of a story. That’s what the DK games are lacking and it’s a critical component since that really gets you engaged in the series. Naturally it’s not something I would dock this one any points for due to the age and all that but for a new game I would definitely be a little more harsh. I need those cinematics!

Overall, Donkey Kong Land III is a good game that definitely ends rather quickly. It took a step back in terms of the hub world but in all other areas it manages to keep pace. It’s definitely a title to keep your eyes on the whole time. Hopefully we get some new DK games in the future. It may not be my favorite platforming series but I would still play it at some point. You can always count on Nintendo to deliver a fun experience no matter what year it is. It’s just what they do.

Overall 7/10

Donkey Kong Land 2 Review

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The next DK Land game has arrived and it’s a pretty good continuation from the first one. In general I miss DK and his strong way of fighting but Dixie is certainly the most powerful all around character with how she can fly anywhere. The game also doubles up on all the summon animals so on a purely gameplay sense it may beat the original. I would still have liked for DK to have been involved more though since this is supposed to be his series.

There’s still not much of an actual story to be had here though. The game is much more focused on just throwing you into the action so you’d probably have to read the booklet. Somehow or other King K Rool has kidnapped DK though and it is up to Diddy and Dixie to save him. They are ready for this though and prepare to use all of their skills to get past the waves of enemies and help him out. There are a wide variety of worlds to go through here so prepare for a lot of environments.

One thing that is evident from the stat is that the gameplay is quite hard though. A lot of these levels require split second reflexes and you always have to be moving or you will be left in the dust. One big example of this is the level where you play as a spider. You have to shoot out your webs and then keep on rising through the level as some boiling water follows you. The way you do this is by shooting out the web with B and then clicking select to stop it and turn this into a platform. You have to continue with this process at top speed or you will quickly be overwhelmed. It’s really hard because of how far apart the buttons are.

Then you have to consider that a lot of the enemies are impervious to your jumping. So you have to use your rolls which isn’t always easy to time. If you don’t time it well then you will end up taking damage instead. The bosses also attack rather quickly so you want to learn the timings real fast. The game is definitely unrelenting which is impressive. Since the levels aren’t overly long and there are checkpoints, I say bring it on! Of course with the Switch Online and rewinding it’s a non factor but even back in the day it would have been fun.

There are more worlds here than in the first game and of course you also have a bonus world for if you had gotten all of the collectibles. That is some good replay value here and it feels like the modern Nintendo platformers where there is a lot to do. You definitely do get the bang for your buck with this title. Then the graphics are hard to really praise since everything is so faded out but the sprites for the characters look good. It’s the kind of game that would probably look great if we did have full colors but sadly that was not in the cards here.

The soundtrack is good though. Probably not as good as the first one to be honest but it’s close and I would keep it as a positive either way. The game’s technical elements are on point and I also enjoyed the gameplay. It’s not the tightest Nintendo gameplay that I’ve experienced but it definitely does hold its own. The fact that they came up with different gameplay for all of the various animals and Kong members is also impressive. They didn’t just go the lazy route and establish a single mode for gameplay.

My main recommendation is to hold the run button at all times. Some of the jumps are really hard to handle but if you are running then you will be able to make them without any issue. The only weakness is that it can be easy to fall that way and of course if you are in a place with a lot of minions then you might bump into them. So you probably want to be patient but for any gap, immediately start running. One thing about the 2D platformers is they will punish you if you rush through the levels too much. It’s just hard not to since I love going full blast all the time.

The game has a fun cameo for Mario at the very end of the game so make sure you check that out. It’s Nintendo’s way of reminding you that he is always around. If we ever do get a modern plot based DK game, I really want them to include Mario somewhere. Have him show up as a secret boss battle or any ally who helps out at the end. Mario and DK are in the same universe after all so it’s about time that they start crossing over more.

Overall, Donkey Kong Land 2 is a pretty fun game. It ends up being over very quickly but such is always the fate for a platformer. That’s why it is important that you enjoy the gameplay. So it may be a short time, but that way it is a fun one. Additionally with the collectibles it can last a bit longer that way. Hopefully the Switch Online continues to deliver more DK games since there are definitely more that I need to play. We’ll see if any of them beat this one. At the end of the day this one’s a basic platformer so there isn’t a ton to talk about but it handles all of the fundamentals well so it’s a good game.

Overall 7/10